Elizabeth (USA: VT) (2007/08/05): I had heard this was the best book written on the Marines in the first Gulf War. Well, the sexual exploits, language, and general "poor me" whininess was more than I could get past. Maybe if I had seen the movie, I would have been better prepared, but I expected more. naja sorella (USA: CA) (2011/01/13): I felt stunned, traumatized from reading this. Swoffard did an excellent job of detailing what it is like to enter this extreme of extreme of male environments & the agressive, violent intimadating culture that starts from the minute he hits boot camp, & not only never lets up, but continues to escalate. He relates how they are trained to be merciless killers, told this is what they are to be, & what this does to them. To numb themselves they drink non-stop, brawl, gang rape eachother, constantly look for women to screw, constantly talk about screwing. He talks about how they are NEVER the same, which makes sense, how could one be? He intersperses accounts of what happens to some of these men after they leave the military. And it isn't pretty. Any young person considering entering the service, needs to read this first.
